


if the swing set bores you

by snsk



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Angst and Humor, Blame the band, Gen, Liam has a lot of feels, M/M, Pets, SO SORRY, sucked into a deep dark vortex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-28
Updated: 2013-02-28
Packaged: 2017-12-03 21:50:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/703003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snsk/pseuds/snsk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry finds a kitten, gets a tetanus shot, and is of the opinion it's all worth it, and Liam feels a little sad about it all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	if the swing set bores you

 * 

 

"That's strange," Harry said, upon opening the door of their tour bus.

 

"What's strange," asked Liam, a bit nervously, because Harry had a very high threshold for strange, a side effect of living with Louis for years.

 

"A magnificent creature has been bequeathed upon us," Harry  declared, bending down. He reappeared with an orange kitten in his arms.

 

"Dear god," Zayn said. "Harry, that thing has fleas and unspeakable feline diseases."

 

"You don't know that," Harry said, cuddling the kitten defensively.

 

"You don't not know that," Zayn said definitively. He put his piece of toast down and glared warily at the kitten.

 

"At least give it a wash first," Liam said, "and then we'll talk, Haz, alright?"

 

When Harry returned from the kitten's bath, Louis and Niall had finally arrived for breakfast. 

 

"Lou, look," Harry said, going over to Louis with the kitten wrapped in a towel in his arms. "Isn't she pretty?"

 

"Isn't that my towel?" asked Louis.

 

Harry ignored the question in favor of cooing at the kitten, which had yawned and stretched in his arms. 

 

"We can't keep a kitten," Zayn declared as they convened on the sofa, Harry on the table, defiant and cross-legged.

 

"We can too keep Eponine," Harry said. Eponine wriggled in his arms. He let her down and she jumped onto the table, swishing her tail about. She sat down with her back towards them and started licking her paws.

 

"Eponine," Louis said, "as in- fuck, Harry, holy fuck. Your arms."

 

Harry looked down at them, surprised. "Oh. She just- doesn't like baths, is all. She'll get used to it, it's fine. Washed them. Doesn't hurt."

 

"Niall, get bandaids," Louis said. He kneeled in front of Harry, tutted, and tutted, and tutted some more. Liam and Zayn couldn't hear much, it was a low constant stream of disapproval and threats with an occasional "I will call-" and "needlES-". Harry interjected, "But she's only a baby," once. Louis stopped him with a Look.

 

Niall came with the giraffe band aids he'd bought for them because yellow and bright and so much more fun than the ones in their official first aid kit.

 

Louis started placing them over the angry red lines on Harry's forearms. Harry winced and pretended not to. 

 

"Do you see," Zayn said. "Pure evil. Make it go away."

 

"We can't keep a cat, Harry," Liam said, "we're on tour, who'd look after it." He bit his lip a bit; Harry these days was being told to do this and that and then the other thing and Liam hated being one more on the long long list of people who gave Harry Styles instructions.

 

"Me," Harry said, adamant. "And Daniel the Driver, when we're not around. Ouch."

 

Louis stroked a thumb over the offending band aid, but only said, "Whose fault was that, pray."

 

"So we're voting," Liam decided for everyone. "Those in favour?" 

 

Harry raised the hand that wasn't busy being bandaged. Niall shrugged and put up his own.

 

"And those not," Liam said. 

 

Zayn raised an enthusiastic arm. Harry glared at him and looked like he was privately vowing to replace all his shampoo with hair remover when he wasn't looking. Liam thought for a bit and raised two fingers. Harry let out a shocked, betrayed gasp.

 

"It's just," Liam said, "nothing personal, but I'm not quite sure how a kitten would thrive in this- environment." He waved an arm to indicate the environment meant One Direction in general. "Remember the time Louis experimented with how long a dead turtle would last in the freezer?"

 

Everybody nodded. Even Harry, albeit grudgingly. 

 

"It's a tie, then," Niall said. "Lou, tiebreaker."

 

Zayn made a scoffing sound. "Louis will side with Harry until the rocks and mountains turn into dust."

 

"But," said Niall thoughtfully, "kitten did quite make a mess of Haz's arm."

 

"Point well taken," Zayn acquised. They both stared avidly at Louis, who was applying a final cheery Bandaid. 

 

Harry looked down at him.  "Lou?"

 

"Niall's got a point," Louis said. He looked up, and was met with beseeching green eyes. "No, that's not fair. Nope. You can't use that. It's not a valid argument."

 

Harry looked. Liam knew what was going to happen before it did.

 

"You have to go for a tetanus shot," Louis informed him. "And god knows I'll have to hold your hand. And god knows you'll probably squeeze it right off. Your puppy dog stare isn't going to replace my hand when it's turned into mush."

 

Nobody said anything. Least of all Harry.

 

"Oh, fine," Louis snapped. Zayn groaned. Niall said, "Pay up." Harry grinned, bright, said "Thanks, Louis," and they shared a moment, just the two of them, the kind of moment where Liam could be sitting right beside them, or between them, and not be privy to. Harry gathered Eponine in his arms. Eponine meowed displeasedly.

 

"Look, she's not even grateful," Zayn said. "Stop holding out your hand, plebian, we didn't even have a bet."

 

Niall shrugged. "Worth a shot," he said, and ruffled Zayn's hair fondly. Liam watched them tussle for a bit until Niall resurfaced and asked, "What're we doing today, anyway? There's nothing on, right?" 

 

"We," Louis said, who'd been speaking to Ep in Harry's arms, quite obviously telling her to worship him and leave hairballs all over Zayn's bed: it was Louis, it was what Louis did, "are going to the doctor's, lads, haven't you noticed? It's a field trip, be excited. A good chance for you to check out that strange swollen rash, Niall, don't you think."

 

"I don't have a strange swollen rash," Niall said. 

 

"There's no need to be ashamed," Louis hushed him. "And you, go put on your big boy clothes. No, you may not bring Ep, she is a lady. Have some respect, Harold."

 

*

 

They had to clear it with management. 

 

Management said yes, to the cat and to the clinic, which was enough of a very surprising thing that Liam realized it happened less than ten percent of the time. Them saying yes, that was.

 

He looked at Harry and Louis, doing filthy hand gestures to match Skylar Grey's dirty bicycle song in the car and laughing like hyenas, and was sad for a bit. Zayn nudged him.

 

"'m okay," Liam said, to his unspoken question. He smiled at Zayn, leaned into him. Louis mimed watermelons, and Harry nearly fell into Niall's lap laughing.

 

*

 

"I'll wait outside. If I hear high-pitched screaming I'll take it as permission to oust the foul beast. "

 

"Okay," Harry said, because Liam knew Louis was the only one he really needed anyway. Liam hesitated for a second and stepped after Zayn. Niall was chatting up a brunette nurse somewhere.

 

"I didn't know you were scared of needles," Liam said. Zayn took out a cigarette and didn't light it, just dangled it from his fingers like a hypothesis in the air. He was leaning against a door that said: FOR AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY.

 

"I've never been scared of needles, Liam, and I would really hope I don't start that shit this late in life," he said. "Also, you forget that all this black ink wasn't done in arts and crafts."

 

"Oh," Liam said, and wondered what the timeframe was to know someone like this. To know what he was actually saying was _I don't like needles in the people I care about, not if I can help it._ Or was it measured in proximity? How much time did you spend squashed together in a tourbus, an airplane, a dressing room before you read him like he was your first language?

 

Liam looked at the cigarette, all possibilities and no foregone conclusions. He took it out of Zayn's hand. Zayn looked at him, and slowly, all deliberation, Liam let it go. They both watched as Liam's sneaker mushed it into a misshapen pulp.

 

Then Liam picked it up and dropped it into a nearby trashcan, because someone had to.

 

Zayn let out a sudden bark, like he didn't mean to and it'd been surprised out of him. "That's you all over, Payne," he said, still laughing. He shook his head and they watched the trashcan swallow up that particular possibility, and then, until Louis called, a group of nurses crossing the street for their lunch break.

 

*

 

"Poor baby," said Zayn. "Have you seen the light now?"

 

"No," Harry informed him, holding the piece of cotton to his arm and letting Louis feed him and orange Popsicle because he was still their baby Tarzan, no matter how hard he tried. "Where's Niall?"

 

"Getting it on with a hot medic, Liam tells me," Louis said. "Living the Grey's Anatomy life. Are you jealous?"

 

"No," Harry said easily. "I could get you to, uh, scrub in, any time I wanted."

 

"Please stop," Zayn said, and Louis laughed. He slung an arm around Harry's shoulders and Harry tilted his head into him, curls brushing Louis' cheekbones because of his height now. They didn't do this in public. Not anymore. Liam felt like he should maybe say something.

 

He didn't.

 

*

 

Eponine meowed a welcome home as Harry walked in the door. She brushed against the hem of Harry's jeans, and Liam knew that they were probably never getting rid of her.

 

"Hello there, sweetheart," Harry said, low and sweet, bending down, and Liam tried not to watch Louis watch Harry as he cooed over the cat. It felt like intrusion, a secret you were accidentally told.

 

He looked at Zayn, instead. Zayn, who'd been watching them, too, half-smiled at Liam, sort of sadly, but only said, "I am never babysitting that monster. Just so you know."

 

*

 

**Author's Note:**

> um i'm so so sorry blame this ridiculous band. also i tried to make it as gen as possible but no p e i'm prettysure the larry shone through in the end blame this ridiculous band again. comments are beloved and twitter is @zombielinson and again i'm so sorry you're free to judge pls don't.


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